Herbarium catalogue

‘MAS ‘DEN “LOG “LYOH ‘daaH Xa ples tr i copyright reserved Act Qanmee Ralaniccl. Nogazine..0:274.4604 es) ad 4 7 = 4 Sp ese : “WW ND, Mba Ddo3ee San aval V hawk INDEX FLORZ SINENSIS. S Kim pRarpr > a AL pi ; Determinavit 4/7. ee , wn ca ee eee eee ain és xen cS i sg cee csRoyal Botanic Garden Edinburgh EH3 5LR Telephone 031-552 7171 Mrs G Barretto Kadoorie Experimental and Extension Famn Lam Kam Road NT HONG KONG 27 August 1987 Dear Mrs Barretto Thank you for your recent letter and the Rhedodendron specimens which arrived safely. It was good of you to send such helpful information. fig you know I. am not a Rhododendron specialist - I view Rhododendron taxonomy as dangerous territory to enter! There are differing schools of thought, and feelings - sometimes run high. Mr Davidian went over the specimens - yours and the large collections of Rh. ovatum and Rh. hongkongense which we house. In the second volume (part 1) of his Rhododendron book — currently in press - he describes Zh.ovatum and in the discussion - ie he does not formally 'sink' it - he considers Rh. hongkongense as a local form of it. Your material served to firm up this opinion. I have also looked at the specimens involved (ie venturing into dangerous territory) and the original and later descriptions. The differences given between the two seem to be inadequate to separate species - even the hairy winter bud character seems to be inconstant. Certainly leaf shape and calyx and corolla characters merge into each other — for leaves your samples show quite a wide range. Recently we had a Chinese botanist working here and on his annotation labels he has "Rh. ovatum subsp. hongkongense (Hutchison) T.L. Ming" - this has not yet been published but is presumably the same that will be used in the main flora of China. So there are 3 current opinions: 2 allied species, one species with 2 subspecies, or one rather variable species (Rh. ovatum). From your information and specimens, I would favour the latter, but subspecies rank could be appropriate if there were, throughout the overall range of the species (ie China & Hong Kong), good character differences linked with geographical distribution. We will incorporate your dried specimens and letters into the herbarium. With best wishes, Yours sincerely copyright reservedG. ©, FORM 1 10000/6-65. KADOORIE EXPERIMENTAL AND EXTENSION FARM LAM KAM ROAD, N.T., HONG KONG. Mle ot RF a DP. ke Roy al agen, : nburgh EH3 5iLR +] 7 i ‘ A i 3 Ve . Identification of sp. Dear Dr edge eer : ’ : ur. MESs Rhododendron ovatum/R.hongkongensis T re us identification i ee Your lest lette a ober. \s' agreed, T collected 1 branchlets in } 8 from two bushes. These were forwa the Hongkong He Ke) They were sre, the HK Herbarium retai S i the balance to me fox Ko] pia oes i ~*~ oO UW } 5 tee | My 5 | © K Herbarium studied this material and l ” 1 an 2 a Le ¥ » 1 © of the opi nt R.honekongensis. = t pa < 2. » in June, Ic ollected green fruit from seve slants for further check by our H " They dec lared = - cota ? = ad ~ ~ the fruit bore characters of R,honskongensis. Six lots are now ee e : TES one = enclosed for your study, No.l iot vars to have astray . — ~ vw 7 . ta * sh ape erences The Herbarium base their conclusions not on le or flower colour but on floral differences, and f es point to the plants being R.hongkongensis. - h Ep 2 { enclose a resume of the 2S Species as set out in the Chinese Icon.Cormop.sinic | translated by the HK Herbarium and Young and "Rhododendrons of China", pub. 3 rt. S cz if one followed the Chinese, that there are ferences betwee t,ovatum and R.honegkongensis vis-a-vis the flowers. is ee ee ee ee ee Tif we were to follow western authorities, you will note the fy variation in leaf size and shape in the material from the six plants. Grateful for your comments. The next bit of sleuthing I will do is to collect ripe . fruit from the same plants. Many thanks for your help and regret having to trouble * Sincerely yours, oa Bawulls ines (Mrs, )Gloria Barretto You. 2 > { : al co =] i Pe esc ao o wast i S 0 as = oO a Gd. i lo) te > Oo fo} io} te pe : Se Eas an Bs H 5 = ee ee = & tot fate 2.0 MOB O <fom a ee = ao OM Sk a< = G32. a. ee See @ 0a a pe A: ea Se 2 Who Mo ae 2 ps Dp as Sa ct i pew oh Steg o hh hoy ne iF = oo oe a ® G75 5 Q eee ZR S 5 cpm HK nm gf" Os a Sato oe my eo | ge Bale ps 7 eee tee f mo pls oe Fo *< ne sew 2225 te ct Or > as eta iS fo OOc Q ie E = 2 Sar B20 = og eH ¥ 74 3 = 1S BP ws bh be ure @ © >) w Bede > OM @ ct > HPS & & ¢ © ~ oS c\ e 74 £7 « Es ¢ 2:85 4 x73 0 GQ eh ® “ , ¥ 2 be Ohm » 4B = B by PS (= ; a 5 2 & os o oo Cc 6a pope = = Es Pn ae 2 2 = ras © : ue e o 3B :" + a A si, be ie) . - ‘% 5 © ct ct . sae ® BA ) 8 ¢ Of eS be es © & as MHS 2 6 od * ¢ fo) ° oH v2 O° = o — ef 8-6 os ¢ . > O21 HOo s GS) a. i oO az 9 ° Oo Qu. bee = ae a 5 O12 oe ale ee ee | oO ,= J NRoyal Botanic Garden Edinburgh EH3 5LR Telephone 031-552 7171 Mrs G Barretto F Kadoorie Farm & Garden Lam Tsuen Valley Lam Kam Road Taipo New Territories HONG KONG 10 September 1986 Dear Mrs Barretto Please excuse the long delay in replying to your query . . about the white Hong Kong Rhododendron. I've shown your letter to Mr Davidian and the following comments are mostly his. He was quite sure that the specimens you sent previously were indeed R. ovatum; and that it was possible that the specimens you sent to the Hong Kong herbarium were collected from a different specimen. The only answer of course is that you should send us in March 1987 specimens, from truly identical bushes, of flowers and capsules; as in the last paragraph of your letter. If I may add a comment of my own, speaking as a general plant taxonomist, I would like to know if, in the field, the characters used by Rhododendron specialists to separate R. ovatum and R. hongkongense really do hold true. It seems to me that the supposed differences are rather imprecise and not very convincing to separate the species. But it is only somebody in the field who sits down among the bushes with the descriptions of both and either convinces him/hersel?! that the differences are clear - or else finds that the two supposed species in fact intergrade and only one species is involved. I would, in general, be a bit suspicious of a situation where there are two species, separated by characters of leaf shape and flower colour, growing in the same locality. Different varieties possibly but doubtfully different species. However Rhododendrons do behave their own way and there could be two perfectly good species growing side by side! Best wishes. Yours sincerely I C Hedge 7 8 9 .-10 copyright reserved_G. O, FORM 1 10000/6-65. KADOORIE EXPERIMENTAL AND EXTENSION FARM LAM KAM ROAD, N.T., HONG KONG. , of F F Sew RA HH June 2lst, 1986. Ref Dr. Ian Hedge, Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh EH3 5LR Scotland. Dear Dr. Hedge, The question of the identity of the white rhododendron species of Hongkong has reared its head - once more. I refer to your letter of &th August 1985 wherein you identified the specimens I forwarded some months before that, as Rhododendron ovatum. And, under cover of my letter of March 6 1986 I sent capsules/seeds of that flowering (1985), that you acknowledged per yours of April 4th. In March this year, I sent fresh flowering . Specimens of this white rhododendron to the Curator, Hongkong Herbarium, with copies of relevant correspondence between you and I, re your identification of R. ovatum. The HK Herbarium hed also been forwarded capsules/seeds from the same collection as yourself. anh Clumaae, Gen pCenmf “Seate, “Ne Auk, A lehed + Enclosed is a copy of the Curator's reply,, As ‘you’ can see, they maintain R. hongkongensis, based on description from the Chinese Icon. Cormop. Sinic., Vol. III (1974) At this juncture I would like to say:- a). there might possibly have been two different species growing on that huge flank of mountain where we air-layered plants growing in nature; b). of the plants we have from this layering, that there are therefore, two species; ec). that I did not collect flowers from exact lyth e same plants for yourself, and the HK Herbariun. d). -do.- for the capsules/seeds. Naturally, I am looking forwards to your comments. I would like to add that if it would help, I could, in March 1987, forward you and the HK Herbarium specimens from truly the identical bushes of flowers (1987 fl'ing) and capsules (from 1986 ) fi ine), i Sincerely yours, An Sor (GfOria Barretto) TTT ROYAL | Encs. 7 8 ) copyright reservedG. O. FORM 2 3000/1 2-84 KADOORIE EXPERIMENTAL & EXTENSION FARM AND BOTANIC GARDENS Lam Kam Road, Tai Po, New Territories, Hong Kong Tel. Nos. 0-981317, 0-981604 am 2 Be % & te Hf Thm SR eee e March 6th, 1986. Dr. I.C.Hedge, Curator, The Herbarium, | Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, oasis nea: ! EH3 5LR Scotland. <28 | OS Dear Dr. Hedge, mors —~— As a follow-up to our correspondence on the Rhododendron ovatum Pl. of Hongkong (your last letter on this was dated Aug.8, 1985) I have pleasure in enclosing seeds collected from the same plants from which your identification was based. Also enclosed are seed capsules for your herbarium records. I hope that the seeds are viable, they were collected about February 15th, this year. Oo ) => = ® ”) po) — pad Bs o — = 2. ©) O Yours sincerely Gani P> G. 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